Apparatus for measuring fish.



P. P. EENNEBURG.

APPARATUS FOR MEASURING FISH.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15, 1909.

95 3 236., Patented. Mar. 29, 1910.

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Fig. Z. 52 xi F. P. BENNEBURG.

APPARATUS FOR MEASURING FISH.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15, 1909.

953 4136 Patented Mar. 29, 1910.

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4m QM KW ANDREW a. GRAHAM 20., Pnmo-umoanvnm WASHINGTON. 0.0

P. P. RENNEBURG. APPARATUS FOR MEASURING FISH.

APPLI OATION FILED JULY 15, 1909.

Patented Mar. 29, 1910.

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ANDREW s. GRAHAM co, FNOTO-LITHOGNAPHERS. WASHINGTON, n1.

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FREDERICK PHILIP RENNEBURG, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARDRENNEBURG & SONS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

APPARATUS FOR MEASURING FISH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 29, 1910.

Application filed July 15, 1909. Serial No. 507,670.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK PHILIP RENNEBURG, of the city of Baltimoreand State of liIaryland, have invented certain Improvements in Apparatusfor Measuring Fish, of which the following is a specification.

Menhaden from which oil is expressed, and the residue used in themanufacture of a fertilizer, are usually sold to the factories by thethousand; and as the fish are of a practically uniform size, the number(1000) can be ascertained with a suflicient degree of accuracy by bulkmeasurement.

Such being the case, the present invent-ion briefly stated, consists inincorporating in a measuring apparatus a rotary app iance which isdivided into compartments having a cubical content which is equivalentto the bulk of one thousand menhaden. Into these compartments the fishare thrown, and the compartments are discharged of their contents duringtheir rotation. Provision is also made for automatically stopping theapparatus if desired, during the filling of a compartment and whileanother is being discharged of its contents as will hereinafter fullyappear.

In the further description of the said invention which follows,reference is made to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof,and in which,

Figure 1 is an exterior side view of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a sidesection of the same. Fig. 3 is an exterior rear end view of theapparatus, and Fig. 4 a central vertical section of Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 and 2 are rectangular platesstrengthened at their edges by angle irons a, which also serve assupports for other parts of the apparatus. The plates 1 and 2 are eachprovided with a circular opening 3, and are connected by a stationarycylinder 4 which is open at its ends, the means of connection beingangle iron rings .7) which surround the openings 3, as best shown inFigs. 2 and 4. The said plates are also connected at the top by angularplates forming a hopper 5 which leads to the feed opening 7 in thecylinder 4, and a similar construction is used to produce a chute 9extending from the discharge opening 10 in the said cylinder, as shownparticularly in Fig. 2.

12 and 13 are disks having a diameter is such that the disks are inalinement with the rectangular side plates 1 and 2 as shown in Fig. 4,and thereby produce flush inner vertical surfaces in the apparatus. Inorder that the disks carrying the radial plates may rotate, they areprovided with trunnions 16 which rest in bearing boxes 17 secured to theframe-work 18 which surrounds the apparatus and is supported from therectangular plates 1 and 2. The disk 12 is fitted with a toothed annulus19, in mesh with a pinion 20 on a shaft 22 which is journaled in theplates 1 and 2, and driven by the sprocket wheel 24.

To admit of the rotation of the disks 12 and 13 with the radial plates14, being automatically stopped as one compartment is brought intocommunication with the hopper 5 to be filled while another is brought toregister with the discharge opening 10, the toothed pinion 20 is madeloose on the shaft 22, and provided with a clutch member 9 adapted toengage with and receive rotation from a clutch member h which slides ona feather on the said shaft. The

mechanism for throwing the clutch h in and out of gear with thecorresponding member 9 on the face of the pinion 20, may be of anyappropriate construction, but the devices which I use for the purposeconsist as follows: On the outer surface of the disk 12 are secured fourcam-faced projections 25 in substantially the positions with respect tothe radial plates 14 shown in Fig. 1, and when in the rotation of thedisks, one of the said projections reaches the position indicated by Xin Fig. 1, it engages the roller 27 which is journaled in the branchedbent lever 29 whose fulcriun .is at j, and forces that device to theleft in Fig. 3.

31 is a shifting lever connected to the clutch member 72. in a mannercommon in clutch shifters, and at its upper end pivoted to a bracket 32extending from the vertical plate 1. The lower end of the lever 31 isplaced within a slot in the gulde plate 33, and below the guide plate isunited by a coiled spring 34 the plate 1. The spring 34L serves toyieldingly hold the two clutch members 9 and 7b in engagement andthereby effect the operation of the apparatus.

35 is a spring-held sectoral tumbler pivoted at m, to theclutch-shifting lever 31, having a lip 12 which through the medium ofthe coiled spring 34:, is held in contact with a pin 0 projectinglaterally from the bent lever 29, as shown in Fig. 8.

From the foregoing it will be understood that when a cam-facedprojection 25 reaches the position X in Fig. 1, the clutch member /bwill be detached from the other memberg on the pinion 20 as shown inFig. 3, and rotation to the disks 12 and 13, and the radial plates 14stopped, except that they will have further movement due to momentum ofthe parts. This movement however is prevented by means of deviceshereinafter described.

In order that the machine after its stoppage may again be put in motion,and another quarter of rotation of the disks and radial platesperformed, I pivot a hand lever 40 at p to some fixed part of theapparatus, and provide the sectoral tumbler 35 with a pin g againstwhich the said lever strikes when the same is moved in the directionindicated by the curved arrow in Fig. 3. In this operation thespring-held tumbler is thrown back or in the direction indicated by thedotted curved arrow, and the lip n detached from the pin 0 on the bentlever 29; and there being now nothing to keep the clutch members apart,the member h is forced into engagement with the member 9 on the pinion20, by the retractive action of the coiled spring 34L; and upon therelease of the hand lever it, together and the tumbler return to theiroriginal positions. The

operation of the tumbler as described whereby the apparatus is stoppedtakes place upon the contact of each cam-faced projection 25 with theroller 27 on the bent lever 29.

I have hereinbefore alluded to devices to prevent motion of the movingparts of the apparatus due to momentum, after the separation of theclutch members. These consist of stops 42 fastened to the disk 12 (seeFig.

1) which have a proper position with respect to the cam-faced projection25, and are in the path of a lug w on the hand lever 40 when the saidlever is in its normal position or that shown in Fig. 3.

Supposing the compartment directly under the hopper 5 to be filled withfish, the apparatus is put in motion by pushing over the hand lever 40to the left as described. The filled compartment now performs a quarterrotation and then stops, when the next compartment is filled and rotateslike the first; and this intermittent motion continues, each compartmentstopping to be filled, while a preceding compartment is discharging itscontents into the chute g.

The intermittent motion of the machine if desired, may be changed to acontinuous one by securing the hand lever in its outward position, whenthe tumbler will become inoperative as a means to effect the separationof the clutch members which remain interlocked.

I claim as my invention,

In a fish measuring apparatus, a stationary cylinder open at its endsand provided with a feed hopper and a delivery chute, and a pair ofdisks situated within the cylinder and having radial plates which unitethem and extend to the circumference of the disks whereby the spacewithin the cylinder is divided into sectoral compartments of uniformcontent, combined with a toothed annulus adapted to have a rotarymovement in common wit-h the said disks, a driving shaft carrying aloose pinion which is in mesh with the said annulus, a clutch having arotary movement in common with the driving shaft and adapted to be movedthereon so as to engage the said pinion, or to be separated therefrom,and devices to communicate movement from the one of the said disks tothe clutch and thereby effect its disengagement as each sectoralcompartment is in discharging position, substantially as specified.

FREDERICK PHILIP RENNEBURG. Witnesses Jos. H. THOMAS, WVM. T. HOWARD.

